Differences between Seiko and Canon Wordtanks and the Seiko SR-E9000
Feb 16th, 2006 by Q
The Seiko SR-E9000 (full dictionary list information here) was released in February of 2005. The most attractive features are backlight available only in a few Seiko models and the 1,800,000 word Japanese/English (both ways) dictionary. This mammoth of a dictionary is also available in CD-ROM form on Amazon Japan for the enormous sum of 101,254 yen (at the time of writing). This electronic dictionary sells for 36,800 yen at big electronics stores in Tokyo (and for $349 at smartimports.net), making it a steal for anyone interested in this kind of specialized translator’s dictionary.
The Genius series is included in addition to the 1.8 million entry dictionary, which has fewer entries than the Readers/Kenkyusha combo found in the Canon Wordtank G70, which is unfortunate. But for most the Genius series is sufficient, and the 1.8 million entry dictionary certainly fills any holes the Genius Japanese to English dictionary is missing.
I’d like to point out the difference in the jump function of Seiko dictionaries and the Canon Wordtank series. In any Canon Wordtank (IDF-3000, G50, G55, G70, etc.), pressing the jump button will bring up a curser that you move to the first character in the word you want to look up and then press the jump key again to anchor the curser on the first letter before pressing the arrow key a few times to highlight the entire word, at which point you press enter. The Wordtank then searches all dictionaries for the highlighted text or if that is not found, then just the first word in the highlighted text. So if you only highlighted the first 2 kanji of a 4 kanji expression, the jump function would not bring up results for the entire expression, just the first two characters.
In the Seiko, pressing the jump key brings up the curser like in the Wordtank, but you don’t highlight more than one character. You must bring the curser to the first kanji in the word, and then press enter. It will then search all dictionaries for every expression starting with that character. So for example if you searched for 一生懸命 by selection the first character, you would get results for 一生懸命, 一生, and 一. This is helpful in situations where you aren’t sure where one word ends and other begins.
Many people have asked about which dictionaries have the ability to provide a list of all words containing a certain kanji, regardless of whether the words begin or end with it. Seiko dictionaries can do this, though the list is of course very long. To do this, look up a kanji from the Kanjigen and press jump. Select the top kanji and then choose either the Kojien or the Kanjigen, depending on if you are looking for any word with that kanji or just kanji compounds. You will then get a VERY long list to scroll through with Japanese definitions. After you find the word you are looking for you can jump once more to the Japanese to English dictionary if you need to. For example, doing this type of search with the word 山 brings up a huge list containing dozens of kanji compounds in the Kanjigen or hundreds of words in the Kojien. This is something that cannot be done on a Canon Wordtank.
So overall, the Seiko SR-E9000 is a specialized dictionary that should mainly appeal to those who need to look up technical words in specialty fields such as medicine, science, business, etc. Still, it is less expensive than either the SR-E10000 or the Canon Wordtank G70, and with the backlight, nice keyboard, and powerful dictionaries, it might be a worthwhile investment for the general student as well.
7 Responses to “Differences between Seiko and Canon Wordtanks and the Seiko SR-E9000”
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Sorry to “double-post” but I see that my comments might perhaps be better suited to this topic. Thanks for the great website!
Start spiel:
I’m on my fifth dictionary, the first four of which were Wordtanks. The last Wordtank was the G50 for me; terrible how long it took to react when you’re used to fast response time. If the G70 has that delay as it sounds like it does, BEWARE. The G50 used to drive me nuts after my quick IDF-4000 (despite the increase in words, I was disappointed after laying down $300).
Now, I’ve sold off my G50 and have purchased a Seiko SR-E9000. I think when I was shopping, both the 10000 and 9000 were available but I preferred the 9000 (this is different from the SR-L9000; be careful).
As I understood it, Seiko doesn’t necessarily add to the same base with each increased model number; they just change the contents. It seems they all have a market segment they’re trying to hit; the SR-E9000 was best for me, with a nice balance of powerful dictionaries and wide-reaching technical books for the ability to translate anything.
If you’ve only used Wordtanks, try Seiko. I’m sorry, Canon, but Seiko has got it. You get a definition preview while typing, a nicer keyboard, you can delete individual words from the history, you can actually move the cursor when typing to change beginning letters you typed leaving the following letters (instead of backspacing all the way back), backlit screen functionality, you can look up a kanji and show ALL words in the kanji/kojien jitens that use that kanji (this means that having looked up yama, you can get YamaGuchi AND AoYama!; this was Wordtank’s thorn for the longest time–they only let you look up words that started with a given kanji; still is a problem, if I’m not mistaken)…
Here I continue to gush about this Seiko:
The SR-E9000 also has business, science, IT, engineering, agricultural, etc. dictionaries, and a 1,800,000 word dictionary that has the most obscure things you could ever think to look up. Great for when you’ve got a technical phrase you need translated (somebody, can the G70 tell you how to translate “field decelerating contactor” or “fixtures and furniture account” or “diaphysical juxtaepiphysial exostoses” (wow.) or more useful for me, something like “corporate average tax rate”?)
These may seem silly (unless you’re a professional or plan to be), but I’m glad to finally feel confident that I can translate what I need to. I’ve put that to use in my aerospace field job. No example sentences in that 180 dictionary, but there are several other dictionaries, and one of the business dictionaries has such cool example sentences. Examples: “The cost of DTP programs runs the gamut from about $200 for a basic Macintosh program to between $1000 and $8000 for a full-blown IBM-based program.” And “They are the culmination of more than 50 man-years of research and development, and tens of millions of dollars in investment.” These are so good for getting into serious Japanese study. (By the way, the regular E-J and J-E are good in this Seiko, too.)
Anyway, I’m more pleased with this Seiko than I ever was with Canons. I would ask that the 2 second start-up screen not happen, but hey–the use speed is quick. I would also ask for an actual flashcard feature. WHY does no one offer this? A simple randomizing function that shows only a word at a time like study cards? The memory function is good, but like the Canons’ not as cool as my PDA’s Dokusha program. Which leads me to recommend that if you have a Palm, get Dokusha! It’s a free download (just search for it) and it’s so cool. Andrew Brault is my hero. He has created exactly what Jishos have needed for years. You can put it on a Tungsten E2 or TX ($200-$300US) and have other fun functionality, too. You can also get Japanese OS put on a US machine for another $40 or so. Search for “Super Dictionary” to read about that.
Anyway, I love these things and think I am finally satiated for now with this SR-E9000 and my Palm TX+Dokusha. Canon’s going to have to make something pretty sensational to get my business again…
Thanks for this excellent information!
I would just add that I do think the speed and some issues of ease of use have been improved in the G55 and G70, but of course I agree that the keyboard, backlight, and various other aspects of the Seiko models make them more appealing than Wordtanks.
I only wish Seiko produced a model with a stylus pen, as I really like the ability to highlight words with it and navigate through the jumping system. (Idealing writing kanji on the screen is needed, hence my appreciation for my Japanese Dell Axiom PDA.)
I was wondering if you had any experience of / opinion on the Canon V80? I got this a few months ago and the stylus does allow on-screen input of kanji, although it’s rather limited. It doesn’t appear to do full searches on kanji input that way – by which I mean it only searches within the individual kanjigen dictionary, and not the J-E, J-J, etc – and it doesn’t work well for kanji compounds, only single characters.
The stroke recognition is very good, though – much more accurate than similar tools I’ve used on PDAs in the past.
I have used the Canon Wordtank V80 and was pretty happy with it. You can look up most kanji compounds by writing in the first one and then using the 関連熟語 button from the kanji dictionary entry to find compounds. Alternatively you could just highlight the kanji in the kanjigen and jump to the Japanese-English or Japanese-Japanese dictionaries. Yeah, I was also happy with the kanji recognition and generally found the V80 to be one of the most useful Japanese dictionaries for this reason. Now if only I hadn’t stopped studying Chinese 6 years ago it would be really useful.
I have recently purchased the SR-E10000. I already have the Wordtank V80 with worked(and still does) very fine for studing Chinese(character recognition, and Chinese/English dictionary), but I always found the Genius Japanese-English too limited for studying Japanese.
So now that some dictionaries are starting to use the Kenkyushadaijiten I decided to buy one. Having to choose between the Seiko and the Canon I prefer Seiko by far. For some the stylus may be more comfortable, but I don’t like having to use both hands, and when using only the buttons in the Canon the jump function becomes (at least in the V80) cumbersome.
As for the contents, the SR-E10000 comes with a Japanese Encyclopaedia and a small English one, useful for proper nouns. I also found extremely useful the Japanese synonym dictionary, which explains the diferences of usage between similar words.
But the greatest advantage is the expansion slot. Now they are selling a card with the 1,800,000 word technical dictionary that came with the SR-E9000. I bought it for 10,000 yens, and the combination of this dictionary with the Kenkyusha and the Encyclopaedia does wonders.
Just one serious drawback. The kanji dictionary is supposed to be a improved version of the Kanjigen found in most dictionaries out there. But for some reason you cannot search for character from a description of its parts (like finding 雷 writing でん＆あめ), like you can do with the Canon, the Casios and even most of the Seikos). I have looked up the product page in Internet and confirmed that. This means that you must know the radical and then count strokes(i hate that).
Anyway, a extremely useful dictionary. It could may be perfect if not for the kanji dictionary.
I agree with NL completely. Conversely, if they would offer the Kenkyusha WaEi Daijiten as a card, you could get the same combination in the SR-E9000, with the extra technical dictionaries too. Seiko doesn’t offer a card for the Kanjigen nor the Daijiten, which are the main attractions for Japanese students.
The Canon G70 has these, but the interface is horrible. The screen is dim because of the touch screen film, and keyboard is hard to use. When I asked the storeperson at Akihabara Yodobashi to show me how the jump with the stylus works, he struggled to highlight a word for a minute before saying, “It’s not very easy to use, so it’s easier to just use the arrow keys”.
You can get Kanjigen and Daijiten with the Casios, but they aren’t as easy to use as the Seikos (w.r.t. jumping and searching) and you don’t get the Ruigo Japanese nuance dictionary.
If someone from Seiko is reading this, please put out a Daijiten card or Kanjigen card! Stroke counting is a big waste of time!
Can anybody tell me which electronic dictionary has romaji or furigana reading. I can speak japanese fairly well, but my kanji knowledge is practically O. I need a dictionary with as many Japanese-English-Japanese entries as possible.
Is it possible with any of these dictionaries to enter a Japanese word in romaji and get an accurate English translation? Or if I enter an English word, will I be able to read or say the translation it shows even if I don’t know the kanji?
The only experience with electronic dictionaries I’ve had is the Lingo. It is fairly good in the sense of non-kanji reader friendliness, but the number of entries is ridiculously small.
I was almost ready to buy the G70 because it seems to have the largest number of entries, but the comment about the touch screen failure made me reconsider.
I would really appreciate any recommendations.
Thank you.